Last weekend, I made a trip over the mountains with the basketball girls from Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale. I’m lucky enough to be the coach of this nice group of young ladies, who also just happen to be pretty good athletes.

We were scheduled to play in a three day tournament at Weld Central High School which is in Keenesburg, Colorado. It was a Thursday night through Saturday morning affair, so it required a couple of nights stay right in the middle of all the farmlands that are well east of Denver. To say that we were smack dab just this side of nowhere would be at least semi-accurate.

After the Thursday evening game, there was some time to relax in the morning before our Friday afternoon contest at the high school, so I decided to pay a visit to a place that I had heard much about, but had never had the pleasure of visiting. The famous Wild Animal Sanctuary was just down the road from our hotel, so with the girls tucked away in their rooms doing homework and studying for finals week, I put my assistant coach in charge of supervision, and headed with great anticipation to see all of the animals both great and small.

The sanctuary is over 1,200 acres and the good people there specialize in rescuing and caring for large predators which are being ill-treated, or for which their owners can no longer care. The animals are now are allowed to live out their lives in a hospitable environment where they are very well cared for.

When I pulled the mini-bus into the parking lot, I got a good idea of how massive the place was. I could see the 1.5 mile elevated walkway that I had been told about. It takes visitors to the sanctuary over and through the habitat of many of the animals who will live out their days in peace. I was anxious to get inside and get going on my walking journey.

I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked, but I decided to make the most of my short visit and soak in every bit of a beautiful and sunny early winter day. I was determined to make it all the way out to the turnaround point so I could view as many animals as was possible. So with the binoculars I was given at the admission desk in hand, I headed up the stairs of the main entrance and began my journey.

Many of the enclosures have acres and acres of land for the animals to roam freely, and I came upon a large group of foxes first. They were busy hustling and bustling about as they chased each other and seemed to be having a great time being free and at play. Then I spotted the massive grizzly bear emerge from his den. He walked right up to the fence as I peered down at him. What a majestic creature. Seeing him reminded me of the old movie, “Night of the Grizzly” with Clint Walker that I watched so many times as a kid.

Continuing down the walkway, which is roughly ninety feet above the animals, I first heard the growling, and then spotted the lions. A lioness was lying down in the dirt on her back, happy as a lark with both paws up in the air, just the way my cat stretches out in the grass on a summer’s day. I knew I needed to keep moving, but I just couldn’t. I was seeing animals that had only been on TV screens and in movie theaters for me in the past. Amazing.

The white wolves were next, and they too were relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. What happened then was probably the highlight of an already special morning. A large Bengal tiger started waltzing his way toward a pond that was near the walkway. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Then he stopped just as big as you please, took a leisurely poop, and continued on his journey. I never took my eyes off of him until he worked his way to the other side of the enclosure.

The only hard part of my visit came when I neared the end of the walkway and saw an old white tiger that was obviously nearing the end of his stay here on earth. When he got up to drink some water I noticed how thin he was and that he didn’t seem to have good balance. He sat back down and rolled over while looking up at me. I said hello and told him he was a beautiful king. There is a plaque near every group of animals that tells a little of their story of being rescued from neglectful situations. A lyric ended this tiger’s brief story and it was from an old John Denver song.

“He has put yesterday behind him. You might say he is born again.”

As I began to walk back, I noticed the hundreds of birds flying together in the sky, making their turns here and there, and forming small designs against the back drop of the turquoise sky. I didn’t want to leave so soon, but it truly had been a special morning for me.

If you love animals, you should plan to go sometime. It’s worth the visit. I am planning on going back next June to do the 5k run at the sanctuary that serves as a fundraiser.

And this time I will spend the entire day.

Glenwood Springs native Mike Vidakovich is a freelance sports writer, teacher and youth sports coach. His column appears monthly in the Post Independent and at PostIndependent.com.